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I jumped up from where I had been lounging, enjoying the wind in my face and the beautiful ocean scenery. We were at Coral Bay in WA on a ‘Swim with Manta Rays’ tour with Coral Bay Eco Tours. The tour company uses helicopters to spot mantas from the air and direct the boats to them. We had already been educated of the rules of swimming with mantas: stay 2 to 3 metres away; no touching; swim alongside it and try to not get in its way. And we had just spotted a Manta Ray! Frantically I gathered my snorkel gear, reaching under the seats to get my flippers, and rushed to the back of the boat. We were split into groups, but still it was quite crowded at the rear, especially as we all twisted and turned to get our flippers and head gear on. And after all that frenzied rushing…. we waited… We waited with anticipation. Ready to jump in the moment we were told ‘go’. Minutes passed as we waited. Each minute increased the excitement. ‘Ok, quickly but gently, slide into the water,’ was the instruction. And we were off. Within seconds I was in the water with my head bobbing under water and back up again, under again in hope to see the creature, and up again to ensure I was with the group and the instructor. We followed the instructor to a spot reasonably close to the shore where she pointed to the bottom of the ocean. I ducked my head under. I saw someone’s flipper right in front of my face, and there was sand flying everywhere. I thought I saw something move below me, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.Then the sand cleared away, and I could see the black diamond shaped body of the manta ray, gliding along the floor of the bay. My eyes widened at the beauty and greatness of the creature. It was like an exotic underwater bird gliding with little effort through the water. Its wings flapped slowly, giving us a peak at its white underbelly.

All of a sudden its left wing lifted higher, effecting a sharp right turn and the manta was heading back towards us. Its smiling face was facing me but it completely ignored my presence and continued along the ocean floor back the way it came. I swam behind, desperately trying to keep up. But before long it was a sandy shadow in the distance. I lifted my head above the water. The group was still reasonably close together and a second group was joining the manta ray a dozen or so metres away. After a little while the manta repeated its earlier manoeuvre, a sharp turn, and headed back towards my group, where we were able to re-join swimming with it. Well, at least until it outran us once again. The manta kept turning back and forwards along the bottom. We were told later that it was feeding by ploughing food from within the sand. It was perfect for us, because each time we lagged behind, we only had to wait for it to turn around and come back to be able to swim with it again. It was such a pleasure to watch the effortlessness and grace of the animal. By the end of the day my legs were shaking from exhaustion.www.coralbayecotours.com.au